The Top 3 Cubs Web Gems of all time...

[Schwarber Fan]

will be on Baseball Tonight - 9:00 CT tonight

[sethuel1]

#1 will be the Gary matthews Jr. catch from earlier this year, because he's a former Cub. And because some ESPN exec has a serious love for that video clip.

[CubColtPacer]

#1 will be the Gary matthews Jr. catch from earlier this year, because he's a former Cub. And because some ESPN exec has a serious love for that video clip.

 

Lol..well, that video clip won't be on there, but it wouldn't completely be a bad thing if he was on the clips at all-that catch with the Cubs where he was running in hard from center and then slid and hit the ball up in the air and then reached back with his bare hand while he was sliding and caught it stretching all the way back was an awesome catch.

[Andy]

I expect that Matthews catch to be on there, and I'm hoping to see Ramirez's throw from his knees in foul ground against Oakland in 2004 on there too.

[Roast]

sammy's dive in pittsburgh a few years back that saved the game, and for the moment, our hope in the season :(

[TB_11]

For those who didn't see it.....

 

3) Hollandsworth faceplants into the wall

2) Gary Matthews Jr barehands the ball after it pops out of his glove

1) Rick Monday saves Old Glory from two protestors who ran onto the field and were about to set fire to it

 

Can't argue with #1.

[Jon]

It's a shame that ESPN is still on the air.

[Andy]

For those who didn't see it.....

 

3) Hollandsworth faceplants into the wall

Forgot about that one. That was amazing.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

It's a shame that ESPN is still on the air.

[Andy]

It's a shame that ESPN is still on the air.

Does this have to do with the Web Gems, or a general comment?

[Jon]

Both. Their picks were pretty darn brutal. The first two were good plays that were entertaining only because of what happened after the catch was or should have been made. The top pick wasn't even a play.

 

But it's been a long time since I've actually been able to watch ESPN, let alone BBTN.

[bhogg]

They probably should have went with Ryno's three greatest plays.

[ToupeeOnFire]

The greatest catch of recent vintage that I can remember was Sammy Sosa's diving catch against the Pirates.

 

As much as I love Rick Monday running off with the flag, it seems like such a cop out on ESPN's part.

 

Of course, half the time it seems like ESPN's web gems consists of somebody making some miraculous catch after misplaying the ball. Reason #987,873 why ESPN sucks.

[Bote McBoteface]

For those who didn't see it.....

 

3) Hollandsworth faceplants into the wall

2) Gary Matthews Jr barehands the ball after it pops out of his glove

1) Rick Monday saves Old Glory from two protestors who ran onto the field and were about to set fire to it

 

Can't argue with #1.

 

#2 was either the day before or they day that he got sent to pittsburgh.

[SoonerCubFan]

The greatest catch of recent vintage that I can remember was Sammy Sosa's diving catch against the Pirates.

 

As much as I love Rick Monday running off with the flag, it seems like such a cop out on ESPN's part.

 

Agree on both, especially the Monday cop out, and add another Sosa catch in 2001 to the list. On a night when he hit 2 HRs including a slam, he made an even better diving catch in short right center off the Cards' flash Stubby Clapp with the bases loaded to preserve a win when the Cubs were in the thick of the race.

 

I also saw 2 other great catches in games at old Busch Stadium. One was in the early 1980s by Mel Hall very similar to the Mays catch off of Vic Wertz. But the best of all was by Bob Dernier in June 1984 off a drive in deep right center by Darrell Porter in a scoreless game against Andujar (that later saw Leon Durham steal home). It was the Hollandsworth catch times 10 - the greatest single play I ever saw in person. We were hig up near the LF foul pole and there was no way it seemed humanly possible to run that ball down, let alone crash headlong into the wall a split second later. Amazing play in an amazing season.

[stitchface]

I'm amazed anyone watches BBTN

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The greatest catch of recent vintage that I can remember was Sammy Sosa's diving catch against the Pirates.

 

I don't remember that specifically, but Patterson leaping the GABP wall is up there too as far as recent catches go.

[USSoccer]

Ramirez had a fantastic catch in Game 6 NLCS off a 4-3 bunt attempt in foul territory.

 

Patterson had a diving catch better than Ryan Freel's against St Louis is 2003 in the Bellhorn GW HR game.

 

Either of those are more impressive than Mathews Jr correcting his misplay

[Schwarber Fan]

The greatest catch of recent vintage that I can remember was Sammy Sosa's diving catch against the Pirates.

 

I don't remember that specifically, but Patterson leaping the GABP wall is up there too as far as recent catches go.

 

The Sosa grab is still on the Cubs.com video highlights page:

 

September 22, 2004

[circlecitycub]

Dunstons over the shoulder, back to the infield catch in short left and then doubling up the guy at first base to end the game vs the Mets in 1989 was awesome.

 

In fact IIRC every game of that series was won in dramatic fashion by the Cubs. One was on a walkoff by Grace. Can anyone else recall how the other game ended?

[Wolverineman]

Dunstons over the shoulder, back to the infield catch in short left and then doubling up the guy at first base to end the game vs the Mets in 1989 was awesome.

 

In fact IIRC every game of that series was won in dramatic fashion by the Cubs. One was on a walkoff by Grace. Can anyone else recall how the other game ended?

 

 

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07290CHN1989.htm <-- Theres the other game. Just a routine 10-3 game.

[circlechange]

Ramirez had a fantastic catch in Game 6 NLCS off a 4-3 bunt attempt in foul territory.

 

Patterson had a diving catch better than Ryan Freel's against St Louis is 2003 in the Bellhorn GW HR game.

 

Either of those are more impressive than Mathews Jr correcting his misplay

GM Jr's catch is the only one that might deserve to be top 3 in Cubs video history, imo. Yes, he corrected his own bobble, but the quickness and hand-eye coordination to do it was incredible.

[jjgman21]

The greatest catch of recent vintage that I can remember was Sammy Sosa's diving catch against the Pirates.

 

I don't remember that specifically, but Patterson leaping the GABP wall is up there too as far as recent catches go.

 

The Sosa grab is still on the Cubs.com video highlights page:

 

 

 

Corey's on 4/19/05

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/multimedia/tp_archive.jsp?c_id=chc&ym=200504

 

possibly the best play I've ever seen a Cubs make.

 

the most memorable part about Sosa's: it came the day after he hopped on a ball off the wall and got thrown out at second nearly costing the Cubs the game and with that make-up-for-the-late-break lunge he redeemed himself in the eyes of many. shoulda been a routine running grab.

 

BBTNs list is terrible, though I did like the Hollandworth face munch. iirc, it came when Sosa was on the DL and Hollandworth was mashing in his place. that play really put the Cubs in a spot b/c Hollandworth couldn't play for a few days. Macias came to the rescue and did quite well the rest of the road trip, giving Dusty the confidence to over play him for a couple years.

[thedaymen]

I remember in the 1980's guys would line singles in to right and Dawson would gun them down at first. Happened like 1-3 times a year, but everytime it was awesome.